Extraction
by MetalPrincess13
Summary: Some friendly drinks and a scientific bar trick lead to an unexpected invitation. Adult!Palletshipping


**Extraction**

 _Some friendly drinks and a scientific bar trick lead to an unexpected invitation. Adult!Palletshipping_

Author's note: It's been forever since I last posted anything! I really don't know where I got the idea of Gary and Ash getting together over a strawberry DNA extraction when they're adults, but I'm glad I got the idea! I wanted to do something kind of fun and not too nsfw, but still adult.

Enjoy!

… … …

Long fingers paused as they reached for the chilled bottle of clear alcohol. An idea sparked in his mind and a rare smile curved his lips.

"Wanna see something cool?"

Brown eyes questioned him silently, a gentle smile curving the lips of his companion. The other man took a long sip from his beer, watching as Gary fetched a strawberry from a bowl in the refrigerator.

He sliced off the green top and cut the berry into perfect quarters with quick, precise movements. A tall, narrow shot glass was plucked from a sleek shelf over the bar, the strawberry pieces dropped in with another precise movement.

"What's so cool about a strawberry shot?"

"It's what I'm doing with the shot," the scientist replied, measuring a small amount of salt into the glass.

Ash snorted at the fancy glass container holding margarita salt. Only the best for the home bar in the den of Gary's little house in Pallet.

"Whatever you say," Ash muttered. He watched as Gary took a muddler and began crushing the strawberry pieces.

"Strawberries are plants, so they're made of cells…" Gary's voice trailed off as he turned back to the refrigerator and retrieved the bottle he had been considering.

"No shit." Ash winced when the metal muddler struck him in the arm.

"Keep it up and I'll shove it down your throat," Gary threatened, holding up the muddler for emphasis.

Ash rolled his eyes but gestured for the researcher to continue. He pulled the tool out of Gary's reach as soon as it was set down.

"Crushing them breaks apart the cell walls and the salt helps break the nuclear envelope."

Gary twisted open the cold bottle of vodka and lifted the shot glass, holding it at a careful angle. Ash watched as he slowly poured the vodka down the side of the little glass until it was filled to the perfect amount. Years of meticulous lab work had led to perfect techniques – and Ash found himself constantly impressed by Gary's precise and measured movements. There was an odd sort of self-assured grace to everything the man did.

If that hadn't been enough to hold Ash's attention, the spark that lit up Gary's eyes when he was explaining something scientific certainly would have. Few things brought as much life to those green eyes as science did.

Those green eyes flicked up to meet Ash's as Gary set down the bottle and picked up a wooden toothpick instead.

"You know what's in the nucleus?" Gary asked, an easy smirk on his face and a playful lilt to his voice.

"Uh…"

Gary's smirk was briefly broken by an unimpressed look before he dipped the toothpick into the shot glass and slowly swirled it near the top of the mashed strawberries. Ash watched, unimpressed himself, for a moment until a movement in the clear alcohol caught his eye.

He leaned forward, noticing a fuzzy layer forming between the strawberries and vodka. Pale tendrils formed in the vodka as Gary swirled the toothpick in the glass. The strands wrapped around and around the toothpick until they formed what looked to be a mass of slime.

"What is that?"

"DNA!" Gary announced triumphantly. He set the shot glass down and held out the toothpick for Ash to examine.

"It looks like snot," Ash observed bluntly and reached for his beer.

"It's DNA!"

Ash grinned at the affronted cry. "It still looks like snot," he retorted, purposely pushing his buttons. Gary was the easy one to rile up these days. "You gonna drink it?"

Green eyes narrowed in annoyance but Gary scooped up the glass and raised it, just as Ash knew he would. Rivals to the end – even with them pushing thirty. Gary gave the glass a slight swirl and quickly tossed it back.

"Ugh!" His handsome face contorted in a grimace and Ash couldn't help but laugh.

"Chunky?" he queried between chuckles.

"And salty…" Gary groaned, still pulling a face as he retrieved a bottle from under the counter. "That was like strawberry and sea water vomit after a night of drinking nothing but vodka."

"I'm sure the last time you had that salty taste in your mouth it had nothing to do with sea water," Ash mused, shooting Gary a suggestive leer.

Gary glared at him again as he filled a glass tumbler with an amber fluid. "Oh, piss off."

Ash reached across the counter, plucked the glass out of Gary's hand, and took a sip. The bold and sharp flavor flowed over his tongue – whiskey. Blackberry. Sweet, but strong and _good_.

"At least let me help you get rid of the taste," Ash suggested, taking another swig from the drink.

Holding the liquid in his mouth without swallowing, Ash reached out and grasped Gary's shirt. Before the other man could react, he had leaned across the counter and pressed his mouth to Gary's. He slowly parted his lips and let Gary feel it against his own lips.

Despite a slight pause from surprise, Gary reacted readily, opening his mouth and accepting some of the alcohol from Ash's mouth. He knew what he doing and barely lost a drop of the fluid. Ash's tongue swept into his mouth and Gary let his own tongue roll over it, greedily lapping at the flavor of the drink. He pulled away, swallowing a mouthful of whiskey and licking his lips. A small drop of amber slid from Ash's lips and Gary quickly leaned forward to lick it away.

Ash reached for another kiss but Gary had already pulled away with a smirk. He swiped his drink back from Ash and leaned casually against the counter lining the wall behind him. Casual, but confident; as though nothing remotely out of the norm had just happened.

And really, nothing out of the norm _had_ happened. There was, of course, a reason they could pull a trick like that and not end up with a mess of booze all over the both of them.

Ash picked up his beer again as he sat down and raised it to his lips. "You know, I really love this little bar," he commented, taking a drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set the bottle back on the counter.

Gary rolled his eyes as he moved Ash's beer to a stone coaster. "You're here every night. You might as well just move in already!"

Ash paused, his hands automatically moving to wipe away the slight condensation on the countertop. Was that an invitation? Drinking in this room over the years _had_ led to many a night passed out on the couch… and several occasions of drunken _trysts_. But they had never gone further than that – their relationship had never gone further than really close friends with benefits. _Right?_

He busied himself with finishing his beer in attempt to buy more time.

Gary evidently saw straight through this. "I'm serious," he added and took another deep swallow from the tumbler of whiskey. He pulled another beer from the small fridge, opened it, and set it down in front of his friend without even glancing away from him. As always, Gary moved with the easy grace of someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

"Really?" Ash watched him carefully as he passed over the empty bottle.

Gary automatically reached for it and dropped it in the bin under the counter. "You think I would suggest it if I wasn't?" He didn't wait for a response before pushing on. "Ash, you're here every day. Half of your belongings have already migrated over here, and we screw around more than most married couples. Don't you think it's time we just made it official?"

Ash rested his arms on the counter and fixed his attention on the man in front of him, entirely ignoring the new beer. Was this really happening? It couldn't be. He had to be misreading something.

"Gary," he started slowly. "You only have one bedroom."

"As if you've never slept in my bed," Gary retorted. He smirked knowingly and shot Ash a wink from across the counter. "Oh, come on," he sighed dramatically at Ash's questioning expression. "When was the last time you _didn't_ end up over here?"

"Every time I go out training."

"Where do you go when you come back from your training trips? Whose laundry room do you use after them? Who patches up your injuries?"

Ash stared at him silently for a moment. "Here," he finally replied quietly.

He lifted his beer bottle and took a slow sip. He went to set it back down on the counter, only for Gary to shove a coaster under it before the bottle could touch the countertop. He couldn't help but laugh at how utterly _Gary_ the move was. When he looked up, he noticed Gary was smiling.

"I already feel like we're married," Gary admitted. "Just move in already."

The first part of Gary's reply had sent simultaneous jolts of realization and shock through him, but Ash recovered quickly. They _had_ spent the last few years joined at the hip when Ash wasn't out training. There had hardly been a night in recent months that Ash hadn't either slept over or staggered back to his mother's house in the early hours of the morning.

Why not?

"Well then… Why don't we just get married?" Ash suggested, taking another drink of his beer. He shot Gary a grin when he noticed him freeze in surprise.

Gary recovered at the sight of Ash's grin and leaned across the counter to press his lips to Ash's. He returned the grin as he pulled back. "Maybe we should tell everyone that we're dating first," he suggested.

"Okay," Ash laughed. "We'll do that first." He continued to grin Gary opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of chilled tequila. Tequila nights always ended _nicely_.

"How about we celebrate first?"


End file.
